Winter Sleepers (1997) User Reviews

Slow But Beautiful Looking Coincidences

[noralee · 6/10 · 8 October 2005]

I went to see "Winter Sleepers (Winterschläfer)" only because it's the same director as "Run Lola Run," though it turned out to be pre-"Lola."

It plays with the same theme of coincidences, though not with "what if's" of Lola or "Sliding Doors" or others in the genre. Rather, the audience knows what connects random people together to understand the misunderstandings and connections.

It's slow at spots (too much stuff that's almost French movie satires of a couple not looking at each other and smoking away) but the directing otherwise is very non-Hollywood intriguing, swooping and looking in at such odd angles, creating tension from a neat VERY unpredictable plot involving basically five or so people in a beautiful Bavaria.

I had no idea the German Alps could be so breathtakingly beautiful -- absolutely terrific stunts that will look puny if you see it on cable or video.

The pop soundtrack is again in English, but the director co-wrote the ambient music that is also used very-non-Hollywood in how it comments and builds up on the tension.

It's a bit long but a nice relief from too many Hollywood movies.(originally written 4/23/2000)

Rent, Winterschlafer, rent it.

[ThurstonHunger · 7/10 · 15 August 2004]

I definitely enjoyed this film, and found it pleasantly unpredictable throughout. That really has become a huge criterion for me, if you are the same, you might save reading this and other reviews until after you've seen the film. Thus...

SPOILERS of sorts...

While the film launches with hyperkinetic momentum, a la "Lola," by about halfway through the pace of the action, and even the camera itself stops to freeze. Tykwer's early tracking of the camera by hand to weave in on various actors helps to inject tension to this film, even when the scenes themselves may be no more tense than a typical soap opera. Then for awhile, the camera becomes stationary, and we wait as the earlier motions and emotions play themselves out, and finally we get an, explosive exhillirating ending.

I see the tag line for this film refers to it as a "Liebesthriller" and when I watched the trailer for the film *after* seeing it properly, in English they referred to it as a "Romantic Thriller" That is a fine encapsulation of it...and not really a genre that I place too many films under its rubric.

While this film ride well upon surprises, it also uses one more familiar and frequently deployed device these days. there seems to be more movies where multiple characters are brought together with only say one degree of separation, but their connections are unbeknownst to them. I admit it, I enjoy this cheap omniscient thrill...and it works well here.

Here certain secrets are known to us and the "criminals" who have committed various acts (all men, sigh...), they often seek out retribution for the very crime they are responsible for. We have the philanderer as jealous boyfriend, and the father whose own mistake led to the loss of his daughter seeking vengeance. Then there's a peculiar character who rather than being hypocritical, suffers from a peculiar form of short-term memory loss.

This latter character, rather than charging blindly over the cliffs of ration, seems to be struggling with recalling his acts, and reclaiming his responsibility. There is a haunting scene on New Year's eve where you can see the fireworks in his fragile, shrapnel-shattered mind, reflected on his very forehead.

And the film is beautiful in other aspects...the two female leads carry their theme colors with them wherever they go. Their connection as caring roommates helps to hinge much of this film, and feels right for that sort of relationship. And both are crucial in helping transform the villain in this film, past anti-hero into a hero as he rescues both. He plucks the ultra-cynical "green" girl from the clutches of her despair, while he consoles the "red" girl in the wake of a death in her family, and in the wake of her absent boyfriend.

So whether we buy into this "conservation of guilt" and karmic come-uppance is one trick to this film. Even while watching it I felt a bit manipulated towards Rene, and in hindsight now moreso.

The photography is flashy throughout. The ski-diving at the end, shots of the anti-hero though a diamond lattice work at his hovel, the camera in the lair of the lovers starts early on tight and intimate, but eventually gets as much distance as it can, spying on them from a corner in the ceiling. Wide-angle to catch them as they drift apart. That bathroom fireworks shot is really a tremendous one as well, and any of winter wonderland shots were great. Especially the skating ones...

On one level this could be the "soap opera" of the future, romantic rollercoasting along with nice dabs of mystery and of course duplicitous if not just plain dumb men. We are missing the catty female, and honestly the film is far more savvy than that. I suspect reducing down the novel for this film was probably a challenge, but well worth it. I wonder if the title has any idiomatic sense in German, like the notion that when winter thaws out, we can see what has happened. I think we see all of the characters actually asleep at one point (or comatose even) and they all lurch awake. I know the film starts with the idea that they are all running away, or leaving, with a sense of urgency.

The film questions whether you can run away from your actions, and to me it covered a lot more movie mileage than "Rennt, Lola, Rennt." Indeed the two female here live rent-free and the men, well they run into trouble...but not necessarily their own.

7/10

Almost perfectly edited piece of art

[Starbuck-2 · 7/10 · 15 May 2000]

Winter Sleepers, a film Tom Tykwer made before his brilliant Run Lola Run, shows some of his development. A few of the more dramatic shots were things he tried here first. From a technical point of view, the work is excellent: editing, photography, lighting, music, sets and locations were all beautifully delivered. At times, that's enough, but this is both an unrelentingly down story and it's probably about 25 minutes too long...a rough combination. I'm glad to have seen it; I enjoy Tykwer's vision and technical crispness; he knows how to grab your attention powerfully without resorting to cloying tricks like Spielberg. On the other hand, there aren't many people I would recommend Winter Sleepers to. Great work, so-so outcome.

Hypnotic, powerful ride

[shark-43 · 24 June 2001]

I have to disagree with the other rather lengthy comment made by a viewer in Germany. This film is hypnotic, powerful and satisfying. One has to be in the right mood for this film. It takes it's time. It is surrounded by snow and muted colors (except one character, Rebecca, is always in red - even her car is red). In a dreamlike state, this film will take you into four different people's lives and see how they intersect through the tragedy of a car accident. I think Twyker is extremely gifted with how he tells a story visually and I was a big fan of his Run Lola Run. He obviously has an attraction to stories about destiny and fate and how life is full of little decisions and moments that mold us or damage us in a blink of the eye. Very well acted film also.

A slow, technically impressive thriller...with few thrills

[bcuojoe · 6/10 · 8 July 2000]

I really wanted to like this movie...

The director of "run lola run" has made a film that is very intriguing and beautifully shot. The charectors were well thought out and played with believability and impressive skill by all the actors...but...the story drug on for so long that I was hoping for more action and less inverted thoght laid out by the splended actors. After a while they had nothing more to say... It all happens in a small German village over the course of winter. A tragic accident leaves one man searching for revenge, while others live out their personal intrigues...a handsome philadering ski instructor, his sweet nymphet 'girlfriend', the nymphets' marose girlpal and a disturbed man smitten with the marose girl. The actors did an impressive job with creating depth to their roles. Their motivations were very believable...

The major flaw of the film is it's extreamly slow second half and an ending, while hopeful, frankly lackis in the dramactic sense. There was'nt a climax of tension which the film seemed to be striving toward. Instead we are fed an anticlimax that leaves us with a very bitter aftertaste. (and whats' with the Mashed potato, Close encounter of the third time poo halfway into the film?) Fortunatly, the film still has a lot going for it: the acting, cinematography and direction are wonderful till close to the end. ( I will also give kudos for the choice of music and smarts by the director to know when to have silence play with the drama.) I give this film a 6 out of 10; The director has talent, and all those involved with this project should be proud to have this film under their belt. Even with its' flaws, "Winter sleepers" plays as a cool charector study and and worth watching in the comfort of home, where you'll be able to pause it, grab a cup of coacoa, and enjoy it's all to leisured pacing.

It's worth seeing once.

I have seen only a few German films and I have liked every single one

[evangeline · 10/10 · 2 December 2001]

Naturally, everybody saw "Run Lola Run" and liked it, just as I did.

And movieplexes, eager to cash in, probably scrambled for other T.Tykwer films, which is how and way the Century Landmark Theatre in Chicago was quick to put on "Winter Sleepers"

And it only lasted 2 weeks.

Which makes me very lucky to have seen it! It was a momentous surprise- just as much "Run Lola..." was dynamic and restless, this was dreamy and magical...

Scene after scene of quiet country life- often of desperation and lost chances and graet sorrow- and often wildly sexy. I usually take love scenes in movies as a simple plot device and hardly they are more than transparent tricks to keep one's attention on ( besides wall to wall soundtrack and car chases). Having said that, I have to admit that I hardly get so wound up after a movie love scene, as I did in this one, but here they were so intense and unforgettable ..

I also loved the fact that the film did not have a major plot line, following the standard Aristotellian curve- it just was and it ended without major fireworks, because this is how life is- it happens, it flows, it is felt, it is sometimes understood, it runs forward or slowly passes by, but it is almost never simplified to a beginning and a middle and an end. Very few films ever grasp this concept or very few filmmakers can relate it, but that is why film is such an elusive art.

Great potential not realized - But very good effort

[jazkat · 6/10 · 16 July 2001]

I liked this movie. It's not great but a lot of potential bleeds through. You can see that Tom Tykwer has talent and is searching for the proper execution of his vision. I most enjoyed how the film examined a group of very different individuals, and their unique ways of managing life and its difficult experiences. The cinematography was great and the actors were very convincing. In fact, I think that the acting talent wasn't pushed far enough. Especially the female leads (Mary-Lou Sellm was terrific but, again, she wasn't allowed to fully open up and spill out the "guts" - the raw emotion that Laura's circumstances might have brought on). The characters weren't developed deep enough. I didn't bond or relate on more than a superficial level. The talent to achieve this was waiting to be unleashed, but the script, the director, the editor, or any combination of many other factors, wouldn't allow it to happen.

The film seemed rushed to take on too many deep personal and inter-personal issues. They were passed over briefly but not delved into enough captivate the audience. Then it ended, (I did like the ending - a fine twist of plot and ironic justice. A little Hitchcock-ian ) and I felt empty - not knowing the characters very well left me wondering what I should feel, and for whom should I feel it.

I am very interested to see "Run Lola Run", to see how much this talented director learned from Winterschläfer. I would also like to see more/other work by Marie-Lou Sellm and Floriane Daniel.

Drama with an unexpected ending

[raymond-15 · 8/10 · 10 March 2002]

This is the first I have seen of Tom Tykwer's work. In a word, outstanding. This movie has all the necessary elements for a successful production and ensures a completely entertaining evening. The opening (and what an opening!) sets the mood..... A chilly landscape of deep snow with helicopter shots racing across treetops heavily weighed down with a recent fall.....And the music with its tremulous monotone suggests impending drama. I wait expectantly.....

Into the picture comes Rene. At first glance an odd-looking guy who suffers from a kind of amnesia. He knows his name and where he lives but can't remember anything else. That's why he photographs every little incident to jog his memory. Laura who works as a hospital nurse agrees he's a bit weird but is fascinated just the same. You get the feeling he's up to something.

Her friend Rebecca, an attractive blond who works as a translator is having trouble with her boy friend Marco. He's so possessive. They congregate in Laura's house where much of the dialogue takes place. Rebecca and Marco are continually arguing, falling in and out of love. These scenes are exceptional.

In some strange coincidence these four characters are in one way or another involved in the aftermath of a serious accident involving two cars swerving on the slippery highway. In one of the cars a farmer who is taking his horse float to the vet. is knocked unconscious. Later he is unable to convince the police that a second car was involved. So he sets out on a mission to find the other car and the man responsible for the death of his daughter who died in hospital as a result of the accident.

Marco the skiing instructor has an eye for the girls and there are some exciting scenes on the ski slopes as they engage the treacherous terrain. It's a matter of "Hold tight!" as the skiers disappear into the foggy atmosphere.

The snow bound landscape is for me a most unusual setting for the drama and I enjoyed every exciting minute. The ending left me almost open-mouthed! And I'm not telling!

Either too contrived, or...not contrived enough

[KFL · 7/10 · 21 January 2002]

By now, Tykwer may be tired of having everything he's done measured against his own gold standard, 1998's Run Lola Run. But in this case the comparison is natural, even inevitable, because Winter Sleepers shows Tykwer moving toward audacious, devil-may-care plot contrivances, of which Lola was the epitome--only, he doesn't move far enough in that direction to achieve the kind of success Lola enjoyed. The result is a storyline that is rather unbelievable, but not wildly enough so to make it a kind of cinematic Picasso...but more nearly like the work of a plodding third-rate painter of traditional landscapes who has yet to master perspective, say.

But this particular analogy is unfair to WS, which does offer us some quite beautiful visuals; the favorable comparisons made by others to Egoyan's The Sweet Hereafter are apropos. The soundtrack is hypnotic in places, and the movie engages the viewer, at least until the next unlikely plot twist.

A falling-between-two-stools kind of effort. Still fairly enjoyable though.

7/10

Experimental and evocative.

[Bristol · 8/10 · 3 May 2000]

When filmmakers attempt to do anything radical or completely experimental, critics often hit them hard with insults about how "unreal" or "amateur." But, hello, all of these new devices being used in films ARE unreal AND amateur because they're so innovational (since no one has tried them before). Tom Tykwer is exactly the sort of filmmaker that likes to take chances, who goes against the normal (sometimes recycled) cinematic techniques employed by the majority of the cinematic world. Here, in "Winter Sleepers," we see those revolutionary techniques that led to his international success in "Run Lola Run" in full bloom. The narrative is basically shallow, leaving many gaps in plot and dialogue, but this is done purposefully, and the filling of the gaps is left up to the cinematography, lighting, and color schemes. It is no surprise that Tykwer uses the subjective camera to convey the feelings of his characters (sometimes we fall to the ground in a flash of white when Laura blacks out, or we spin around in circles when Rene has a psychological episode). It is done for a purpose, and we can understand the turmoil that each goes through--without the reliance of a script.

The film can be seen as more character driven than plot. So, if you need the precious plot more than anything else, I wouldn't recommend this movie. But you should see this movie if you're at all interested in how an event can exponentially set off another set of events, continually building, until the life of every character (whether involved in the first event or not) changes forever.

A highly stylized but tedious film.

[=G= · 6/10 · 9 November 2000]

"Winter Sleepers" is a thin story about some ordinary people in some marginally interesting situations, beautifully filmed, hypnotically seductive, and cloaked in a plodding and laconically self-assured pretense. Those looking for a solid story or serious drama will be disappointed. Others may content themselves with the visual feast in spite of the absence of substance and a two hour run time.

Enthralling.... Thank you Tom Tykwer for making this film!

[Embley · 9/10 · 23 April 1999]

Odd how everyone's perception of film is different. I thought this film was fantastic - good acting and characters, fantastic story, beautiful camerawork, excellent music.... etc etc

This film shows that you can still make a unique, original film without stuffing EVERYTHING down the viewers throat. It has the most excellent circularity to it where everyone gets exactly what is coming to them. It is funny, dark, depressing, enthralling, and overall, satisfying.

entertaining, not deep

[cheese_cake · 7/10 · 23 August 2004]

the German response to the french new wave. hardly! this movie follows the true lineage of main stream German cinema, in that while exploring human relationships and human drama it does not get too existentialist about it. the characters and story is grounded in reality and has a little bit of action, a la German TV detective shows, to quicken the pulse. the story is about two women sharing a house somewhere in the German mountains/alps. one of them is in a destructive yet highly sexual relationship with a ski instructor. the other mops around feeling lonely and meets an intriguing new stranger. the ski instructor is well defined in that while he is a cad and cheats prolificly on his girlfriend, he is not too one dimensional. the feeling one gets about him is that he is young and full of his strength and sexuality. although, there are scenes where in typical new wave backlash to the immancipation of the German male, he sits back and picks lint out of his navel while ordering his "woman" around. as in get the coffee, biatch. not to spoil the story, but he gets his just reward in the end. the mysterious stranger who becomes a seemingly rewarding boyfriend for the other female lead is less well defined. he is weird and i kept thinking now he will be a junkie or a serial killer, but he just gets amnesia. although he does steal a car in the beginning with disastrous results for a local farmer, which is one of the plot tangents which is meant to evoke universal human suffering empathy. the two lead females are humdrum boring and seem to get along well, while searching for a good man. personally, a good dog and more masturbation, is what i would recommend to them. the movie also features some good cinematography, especially the shot in the end of the blonde girl in the red sweater, smoking a cigarette, as she looks out of the frosty window at the cloud draped mountains. all in all, twyker delivers an entertaining film, which is perfect for a Saturday afternoon after a heavy meal, when heavy thoughts and philosophies are best avoided. might i also recommend taking your buxom (if your'e lucky) girl toy ;) to this movie in a dark theatre. geocities.c*m/free_love98

Well made, unfortunately

[Mort-31 · 5/10 · 3 April 2003]

An absolutely stylish movie! If style is what counts for you, go watch it and start praising Tom Tykwer for his wonderful way of making movies. Tykwer has a respectable sense of colours and he is a master of conveying moods and a notion of drama to his audience. The reason why I do not like his movies is that there is nothing about them which gives them the right to be stylishly dramatic. The stories are simple and not particularly interesting but Tykwer makes us believe they are something special. The moment you realize this is not true marks a rather big disappointment.

Winterschläfer has some greatly filmed scenes and pictures, particularly when it comes to combining the beautiful white snow with the very full colours of the characters' cars or clothes. But it's a real pity that these scenes and pictures appear in such a third-rate, meaningless film. The background bears no relation to the magnitude of the pictures. It's the same as with Tykwer's next movie, the world-wide blockbuster Run Lola Run.

Admittedly, Tykwer has chosen good actors for this film. Some of them, like Josef Bierbichler, struggle with the terrible screenplay but others, especially Marie-Lou Sellem interprete it in a convincing and fascinating way.

character analysis

[liangdong · 23 September 2003]

Contains Spoilers Ren¨¦: Typical intellectual, director's alter-ego who seems to have a meditative pursuit of life. He has a strange way of dealing with his amnesia: taking photographs of his personal life Being a projectionist is a good symbol of his life attitude: detachment with no obsession or rebelliousness. However, he does not shirk the relationship with other people blindly but accept what his destiny arranges for him, as symbolized by the baby in his lap at the end of the film.

Marco: Typical male animal, in addition to chasing opposite sex all the time, his only concern is watching TV and consuming garbage food. His trouble besides jealousy is that he fails to penetrate Rebecca's spiritual world. He has this smug clinging fascination to material things that he even ask for the exact price of Rebecca's mother's inheritance auction. Eager to show off his new sports car but disappointed to find out that his girlfriend is not interested at all. His reaction after losing his car makes a strong contrast to other people's indifference to material wealth. It is interesting that he keep asking Rebecca to do one more part-time job, for what? For giving him more money to those libidinal excursion? That final sequence of falling in the air is wonderful.

Rebecca: Female with temperament of literature. Her need of Marco is at one side a prove of the advantages body has over spirit, on the side the yearning and beautification of her curious mind to what Marco represent, a primitive, wild force. However, both he and she felt unquestionably her intellectually superiority and it seems quite normal for a woman like her to establish man-woman relationship like this: She need him but not love him, so need him just like a dildo which can be reasonably substituted by masturbation, or even preferred in certain cases. To piss under the tree is probably from Simone de Beauvoir's Second Sex and I am sure Laura wouldn't think of doing that.

Laura: Female of melancholy who has less intellectual superiority but more emotional sensitivity and prefers bonny intellectual to simple-minded male animal. Her job in the film is just sitting there watching the patient dying and drinking with other nurses afterwards. She express her female quality in activities such as going to beauty salon and visiting Ren¨¦ after he failed to show up on a date. Her repugnance to Marco is just what we expected.

Such a beautiful and inventive movie to look at

[filmtogo · 7/10 · 2 July 2018]

When you watch "Wintersleepers" you'll instantly discover the style of director Tom Tykwer. A lot of close-ups, images which make you think of an american movie and not a german one. Every moment is underlaid with a fast-paced musical score. And we get the heart beat that will later become famous as kind of a score for "Run, Lola, Run". In "Wintersleepers" Tykwer shows that he doesn't like his images or story to stand still. Everything is in motion - always. The best performance comes from Floriane Daniel as Rebecca but also Heino Ferch as Marco is remarkable - we really can hate this guy, we really wanna punch him in the face. The big flaw of "Wintersleepers" is that we can see that Tykwer has a lot of fun with visuals and the cinematography of a film. But he forgets about the story sometimes. It's more exciting to look at his film than to follow its story.

The Cycle of Life Through the Lives of Five Persons

[claudio_carvalho · 8/10 · 28 August 2004]

This movie pictures the life of five characters connect by a car accident in a snowing road, provoked by the projectionist Rene (Ulrich Matthes) and the broken farmer Theo (Josef Bierbichler). Rene is a kind of melancholic intellectual, who has amnesia problem and takes picture of the most important events of his life to recall them. One night he drinks too much and steals the car of the ski trainer Marco (Heino Ferch) just for fun. Due to a lack of attention of Theo on the road, there is a dreadful accident, when his young daughter is seriously hurt in the head. She is sent to a hospital without the necessary resources for such a case, but she is unable to be transferred to another suitable place due to the bad weather and her conditions. The nurse in charge of the young girl is Laura (Marie-Lou Sellen), an anorexic woman full of problems and inferiority complex due to her body, who lives in a house inherited from her grandmother with her friend Rebecca (the delicious and sexy Floriane Daniel). Rebecca works in translation, usually wears red colored clothes and has a kind of engagement (indeed their relationship is limited to sex) with Marco. He is a typical unfaithful male man, sexually chasing the women trained by him and being an empty person. The story is a kind of metaphor with the cycle of life, through the lives of five persons with different attitudes and behavior, who are linked by an incident, having death and birth but with life going on. The direction and the performance of the cast are excellent and the photography is wonderful. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): `Winter Sleepers – Inverno Quente' (`Winter Sleepers – Hot Winter')

This is great cinema from a country that isn't known for it

[philip_vanderveken · 8/10 · 17 March 2005]

I had seen "Lola Rennt" before and I remember that I liked a lot (I even bought it on DVD). So when I got the chance to see another movie from Tom Tykwer I didn't think twice and watched it. Although it is very hard to compare both movies, I must say that I liked this movie even a bit more.

In this movie we meet five people who, at first sight, don't seem to have much in common, but faith and love brings them all together. You'll see Rebecca. She's a translator who lives with her boyfriend, a ski instructor and a real womanizer, in a villa owned by her friend Laura, a nurse. Marco's car is stolen by Rene, a local cinema projectionist, who suffers from amnesia. He still knows everything that happened in the past but can't remember recent facts. While he's driving Marco's car, he causes an awful accident with a local farmer called Theo. Theo's daughter ends up in a coma and is rushed to the hospital where Laura works, where she dies later on. In the mean time Laura has fallen in love with Rene, who doesn't know what has happened. And Theo, who can't accept his daughter's death, tries everything to find the man who caused the accident and killed his daughter, so he can punish him...

What makes this movie so good is the combination of some very fine acting, a great choice of music, very beautiful images and a touching story. If you like movies like "21 Grams" than you definitely have to see this one as well. This is the kind of movie that will never be a great success in the multiplexes, but that will be loved by all who like to see a movie with some depth. You know what I mean, it doesn't have to be art-cinema, but not the 36th sequel of a movie based on a comic book either.

This is honest and sincere cinema from a country that isn't exactly very well known for it. Although I know several German movies that are more than just worth a watch ("Der Untergang" and "Lola Rennt" are two others), German movies aren't as well known or famous as the ones from Spain and Sweden and to a lesser extent France. Nevertheless Tom Tykwer proves with this one what a good director he is and that's why I can recommend it to everybody who likes to see some good, European cinema. I give it an 8.5/10.

I would see it again

[manoj252 · 8/10 · 25 January 2004]

The film Winter Sleepers took the audience on a twisty-curvy journey through the experiences of five people, whose lives intersected in an ironic and sometimes tragic way. The plot was somewhat Mementoesque fashion, although the use of multiple flash-backs and flash-forwards weren't employed. I was impressed to see that that this film came out in 1997, several years before Memento; I wonder if the idea for Memento was somewhat inspired by this film.

The film did a good job of creating a setting that was enticing and believable. The scenery of small-town Bavaria in winter was very pastoral, and the mountain shots (presumably the Alps) were breathtaking. The lighting was soft and warm, creating the sensation of being snug despite the wintry beauty outside. The coziness and clutteredness of the character Rebecca's house also helped to create this illusion.

**Plot Spoilers Ahead** I felt that the plot and/or character development could have been a bit tighter. For instance, Theo's character seems to spin in circles for a good portion of the movie, and when he finally finds his direction and decides to take action, the action he decides to take is shocking and tragic. In a twist of fate, he ends up driving Marco off a cliff for committing a crime he didn't commit. I wasn't too sad to see Marco go, given his nasty habit of cheating on his girlfriend; however, I found Theo's actions to be implausible given the previous context of his character, and his character's identity essentially was undermined. In addition to this minor flaw, there was a general failure to resolve the conflicts set forth in the film in any meaningful way. When the film ended, I was left unsatisfied and a little disappointed. I know that European movies don't always end in the same perfect-world way that most American movies do; however, I still felt that more resolution could have been achieved in this film.

Overall, however, I did enjoy the film very much, and felt that the strong points outweighed the week points. I would give this film an 8 out of 10 for its ability to draw my attention with an interesting plot and likeable characters.

Tykwer's best and most expressive movie

[g-m-schaefer-my · 10/10 · 16 September 2003]

I agree with my dear friend worldwideweird, with whom I watched "Winterschläfer" and Tykwer's other movies many, many times.

"Winterschläfer" is one of the best German-movies, if not the best one, and after you've watched it you'll see the world and all the people around you in a different light. There are three reasons for the immense effect of "Winterschläfer":

1) the movie picks out as central themes questions that nearly everybody has asked himself: what is my fate? And how is this fate connected with the life of other people? Is there somebody or something watching every step of mine? Where can I find the one that'll change my life? What if this person is sitting in the train just passing by, thinking about the meaning of life and hoping to find someone too?

2)These questions are mixed in an extremely thrilling and complex story, set in a small village near Berchtesgaden in the wintry German Alps, a location which is otherwise in film history known only for bad 70s-"Lederhosen"-soft-sex-movies an so called "Heimatfilme" (can be seen nearly every day in German TV, not all are so bad).

3)The characters are complex and credible, and they all have their little faults (my favorite is Marco, the guy who's always jealous and seems to be a little bit dim, played by the unique Heino Ferch). If you watch it, pay attention to the color-dramaturgy (is this the right word???): every main character has its own colour as a symbol for his specific character traits.

After all, everything in this movie is outstanding: music, sound, camera actions...; this is a real perfect movie, and the only thing I can not understand is that it had become so little attention in Germany. There is even no DVD out here, the Americans got one, really funny!

Snowy and Artsy

[Yelisey · 5/10 · 28 January 2013]

Definitely not the worst film from the 90s, but it just seems that the one and primary goal of Tykwer was to fill his effort with as much artsiness and stylish camera-work as possible. Making a cohesive and believable plot was supposedly the last of his intentions. The characters in WS are too dumb and under-developed, delivering some brain-dead lines rarely heard in the dumbest horror flicks (as the one about "maybe it's better to live only 3 years", which was said by a character sitting near the 10-years old girl who had just died). Or another artsy moment of bewitching emptiness, when the blonde stopped on her way to the granny's funeral and started to urinate on the roadside with some grief on her face. Also, all these multiple coincidences in the end didn't make any good to the film.

Anyway, the setting is quite beautiful and it lends some charm to this lame story. Hence 2,5/5. At least.

Superb

[sdl-2 · 9/10 · 24 February 2001]

This movie didn't get much critical attention, which should have tipped me off that it might be worth seeing, given the complete uselessness of film criticism in the past few years. Anyway, it was outstanding, for reasons that are hard to pin down. Acting, direction, scenery, musical score -- all conspired to keep my eyes riveted to the screen for the entire two hours. Subtle, unexpected plot twists, frank, unsentimental treatment of serious issues (sex and death) -- all of these put most recent American movies to shame. (Fargo, which this movie reminded me of a lot, is the most notable exception.) Unlike other commentators, I found not one scene to be gratuitous or out of place. Everything and everyone is treated with a kind of austere gentleness that raises the film from entertainment to high art.

Run Lola Run was brilliant; Winter Sleepers is sublime.

Intriguing take on interlocking lives

[vphillips · 8/10 · 13 February 2001]

Very cool perspective on how seemingly unrelated lives overlap and interlock. Actress who plays Rebecca is absolutely gorgeous. Her boyfriend Marco is an interesting study of a man who feels used sexually and doesn't like it, but uses others.

A question of ultimate responsibility...an answer of Karma-like justice.

[ReliableSource · 9/10 · 4 December 2000]

Winter Sleepers is exquisitely designed, for an intelligent adult audience. It requires patience, attention to detail, and some thought process; a movie that a group of people could actually engage in a discussion about. It has a Zen-like quality, with no wasted words, or moves. Through artful misdirection, the viewer is allowed to see all, while knowing little...leading to misperceptions. Characters and their relationships are revealed with poetic conciseness. I have been thinking much about this story, long after seeing it. Winter Sleepers prompts me to question many things.

masterful mix of story, music, and character

[bwatson-2 · 18 July 2000]

In `Run, Lola, Run,' German director Tom Tykwer gave us a frenetic lightning bolt of a film about a woman given just 20 minutes to save her boyfriend's life. In `Winter Sleepers,' he performs another miracle of pacing, slowing things down to a heartbeat. Only a director at the top of his craft could so masterfully integrate music, dialogue, and cinematography into a unified vision of lives entangled by love, death, and fate. Rebecca. Marco. Rene. Laura. Theo. The first four are young and aimless. The last is desperately seeking to save his daughter's life following a horrifying car crash on a winter road. But as chance throws them together, what they don't know about each other is what makes `Winter Sleepers' so relentlessly fascinating. When the handsome ski instructor Marco absent-mindedly leaves his keys in his car in order to get Rebecca in bed, Rene impulsively takes the car for a spin. He slams into Theo, sending the farmer's daughter into a coma. But the car goes into a snowbank, leaving the two drivers amnesiac and no one to blame unless one of the two recovers his memory. Around this plot, Tykwer works wonders. Lovers' quarrels, strangers' encounters, remorse, jealousy, confusion, infidelity all surface in these five lives. As the characters come together, each scene is a masterpiece of brevity and revelation. Each moment further enmeshes the five in their shared fates. Although the ski town's hottest hangout is called the `Sleepers Bar,' the sleeping here is entirely metaphorical. Two generations of Germans collide and only one - the elder represented by the grieving Theo -- has more than a Deutsche mark of meaning in his life. The others, having chosen surface over sincerity and freedom in lieu of commitment, are sleeping their lives away. Despite the cultural gaps, the sleepers seem eerily like people we know. Marco is impulsive and hot wired. Rene, lonely and lost, squanders his talent while working as a projectionist. Laura is a gentle nurse moonlighting as an actress. Her friend Rebecca is coasting through life on her beauty. Yet unlike modern American films about slackers, Tykwer doesn't mock. The problems of these sleepers are very real; their malaise is deeply felt. The film's lone flaw is its highly unlikely ending. After so skillfully blending coincidence with character, Tykwer stretches chance a little too far. Not even Dickens would have dared such a meeting on a mountain slope. Yet the end does not ruin the means, and the means of this movie make it one of the best films you'll see this year. In one of the film's typically cryptic scenes, Rene and Laura trade adjectives to describe each other. Frustrated, inhibited, egocentric... While these words fit the characters, the only adjectives to describe `Winter Sleepers' itself are brilliant, disturbing, powerful, and haunting.